Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Okinawa Independence Movement

In Okinawa, Talk of Break From Japan Turns Serious The New York Times

Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence Party, last month. “Independence is an idea whose time has come,” he said.

In a windowless room in a corner of a bustling market where stalls
displayed severed pigs’ heads and bolts of kimono silk, Okinawans
gathered to learn about a political idea that until recently few had
dared to take seriously: declaring their island chain’s political
independence from Japan.

About two dozen people of all ages
listened as speakers challenged the official view of Okinawa as
inherently part of homogeneous Japan, arguing instead that Okinawans are
a different ethnic group whose once-independent tropical islands were
forcibly seized by Japan in 1879. Then, to lighten the mood, the
organizers showed “Sayonara, Japan!”, a comedy about a fictional
Okinawan island that becomes its own little republic.

“Until
now, you were mocked if you spoke of independence,” said one speaker,
Kobun Higa, 71, a retired journalist whose book on the history of the
tiny independence movement has become a hot seller online. “But
independence may be the only real way to free ourselves from the
American bases.”

Mr. Higa and other advocates admit that few
islanders would actually seek independence for Okinawa, the southernmost
Japanese island chain, which is home to 1.4 million residents and more
than half of the 50,000 American troops and sailors based in Japan. But
discontent with the heavy American presence and a growing perception
that the central government is ignoring Okinawans’ pleas to reduce it
have made an increasing number of islanders willing to at least flirt
publicly with the idea of breaking apart in a way that local politicians
and scholars say they have not seen in decades.

In May, a
newly formed group led by Okinawan university professors held a
symposium on independence that drew 250 people. A tiny political party
that advocates separation from Japan through peaceful means has been
revived after decades of dormancy, though its candidates have fared
poorly in recent elections. And on his blog, a member of Parliament from
Okinawa recently went so far as to post an entry titled “Okinawa, It’s
Finally Time for Independence From Yamato,” using the Okinawan word for
the rest of Japan.

“Before, independence was just something we
philosophized about over drinks,” said Masahide Ota, a former governor
of Okinawa, who is not a member of the movement.

“Now, it is being taken much more seriously.”

The independence movement remains nascent, with a few hundred active
adherents at most. But Mr. Ota and others say it still has the potential
to complicate Japan’s unfolding contest with China for influence in the
region.

That struggle expanded recently to include what
appears to be a semiofficial campaign in China to question Japanese rule
of Okinawa. Some analysts see the campaign as a ploy to strengthen
China’s hand in a dispute over a smaller group of islands that has
captured international headlines in recent months. Some Chinese scholars
have called for exploiting the independence movement to say there are
splits even in Japan over the legitimate ownership of islands annexed
during Japan’s imperial expansion in the late 19th century, as Okinawa
and the smaller island group were.

Okinawa has long looked and
felt different from the rest of Japan, with the islands’ tropical
climate, vibrant musical culture and lower average incomes setting it
apart. Strategically situated in the center of East Asia, the islands,
once known as the Kingdom of the Ryukyus, have had a tortured history
with Japan since the takeover, including the forced suicides of Okinawan
civilians by Japanese troops during World War II and the imposition of
American bases after the war.

For years, Okinawans directed
much of their ire over the bases at the United States. But that changed
four years ago when the Japanese prime minister at the time, Yukio
Hatoyama, reneged on campaign pledges to move the bustling Marine air
base at Futenma off Okinawa, rather than to a less populated site on the
island as previous governments had approved. After that, many Okinawans
shifted much of their anger toward the rest of Japan, which wants the
United States military presence to offset China’s growing power, but is
unwilling to shoulder more of the burden of bases for fear of crime,
noise and accidents.

Local leaders and scholars say the last
time Okinawans spoke so openly of independence was during a period of
sometimes violent unrest against American control before the United
States ended its postwar occupation of the islands in 1972.

“There is a growing feeling that Okinawans just exchanged one colonial
master in Washington for another one in Tokyo,” said Shinako Oyakawa,
32, a doctoral student at the University of the Ryukyus and a co-founder
of Okinawan Studies 107, a group promoting research into Ryukyuan
ethnic identity.

Such discontent has helped nurture groups like
hers, which seek to promote the idea that the islanders form a distinct
ethnic group. It has also led to the creation of places like Ryukyu
Hall, a privately run school that opened last year and offers classes on
Okinawan language and culture.

On a recent weekend, about 30
people gathered at the school, a small, sparsely furnished two-story
building, to hear accounts in the Ryukyuan language by survivors of the
American invasion of Okinawa in 1945.

“Regaining our identity
is the first step toward regaining independence,” said Midori Teruya,
41, a co-founder of the school in Ginowan, the site of the Futenma air
base.

The talk of independence has grown enough that it is
being heard in Tokyo, where some conservative newspapers have begun
calling the Okinawan independence activists “pawns” of China.

Whether or not the activists are pawns, there is certainly some
discussion in China about using the independence movement. Recently, an
editorial in The Global Times, a state-run Chinese newspaper, said China
could pressure Japan by “fostering forces in Okinawa that seek the
restoration of the independence of the Ryukyu chain.”

Few
believe China is about to pursue ownership of Okinawa. But Japanese
analysts see the informal campaign as the latest gambit in China’s
attempts to take over the smaller group of islands, known as the Senkaku
in Japan and Diaoyu in China, by essentially warning that China could
expand its claims beyond those islands if Japan ignores its arguments.

“It will create problems for us if the Chinese government tries to use
this issue,” said Masaki Tomochi, a professor at Okinawa International
University who helped organize the symposium on independence in May.

Mr. Tomochi and other activists said that in the remote event that
Okinawa became independent, they felt little fear of a Chinese takeover
because the Ryukyus had held friendly ties with China for centuries
before the Japanese takeover.

Mr. Tomochi’s group is planning a
second symposium to present research on how Pacific island nations like
Palau could serve as a model for a future Ryukyu republic. The idea is
to try to overcome what he sees as the main challenge his movement
faces: winning over Okinawans who seem content with their Japanese-style
living standards.

“People are talking independence now, but
how realistic is it?” asked Yoshinao Hiyane, 22, an economics major at
Okinawa International University. “My generation has grown up Japanese.”

At the movie screening in the market, independence supporters tried to
bolster the notion that their idea is more than a fantasy by handing out color-copied “currency” of a Ryukyu republic. They stood before a blue
banner with three stars that the organizer, Chosuke Yara, called its
flag.

“Recently, the interests of the Japanese people and the
Ryukyu people have clearly diverged,” said Mr. Yara, 61, the head of the
tiny Ryukyu Independence Party. “Independence is an idea whose time has
come.”

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This blog is dedicated to Chamorro issues, the use and revitalization of the Chamoru language and the decolonization of Guam. This blog also aims to inform people around the world about the history, culture and language and struggles of the Chamorro people, who are the indigenous islanders of Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Luta and Pagan in the Mariana Islands. Pues Haggannaihon ha', ya taitai na'ya, ya Si Yu'us Ma'ase para i finatto-mu.

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The Revolution Will Not Be Haolified

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE HAOLIFIEDTinige’ as Guahu - 2003 (updated 2008)

You will not be able to ignore it che’lu * This time you will not be able to blame it all on Anghet * You will not be able to change channels * And watch Fear Factor, Rev TV of Salamat Po Guam because * The Revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised, nor will it be advertised * It will not be sponsored by the Good Guys at Moylan’s or the better guys at AK. * It will not be something easily explained by radio callers * Whether they be Positively Local, Definitively Settler, or Surprisingly Coconut * It will not be cornered by the Calvos and explained by Sabrina Salas * Matanane * After the story about the incoming B-52’s or 1000’s of Marines careening towards to Guam, and how we * should be economically energized and not terrorized. * Jon Anderson will have no TT anecdotes about it * and Chris Barnett won’t malafunkshun it because the revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised or editorialized * It will not be something canabilized with two inches here two inches there * Dubious headlines everywhere * Lee Weber will not edit it * Joe Murphy will not put it in his pipe and smoke it * Nor dream about it, or tell others the wonders and blunders of it. * There will be no letters to the editor quoting scriptures or denying its constitutionality * And there will be no American flag inserts saying these three colors just don’t run * As the revolution will not be editorialized

The revolution will not be televised or politicized * It will not play the same old gayu games * And promise you that same old talonan things. * The revolution will not wave at you as you drive by on Marine Drive * And seduce you with its hardworking eyes. * It will not be territorial or popular, and not encourage you with maolek blue. * The revolution will not put marang salaman po after its speeches to get more Filipino votes in the next election because the revolution will not be politicized

The revolution will not be televised, not be theorized * It will not be something GCC or UOG friendly. * There will be no books at Bestseller offering to help you lose something in 90 days * Or Rachel Ray helping you cook the revolution of your way. * Ron McNinch will not survey it * and will not poll people about their revolution of choice. * There will be no WASC review report demanding accountability demanding autonomy * And no beachcombing carpetbaggers will proclaim their own terminal authority * Over the histories, the laws, the thinking of those for whom they see nothing but corrupt and corrupting inferiority * The revolution will not be colonized

The revolution will not be televised, not be supersized. * The revolution will not be something you can buy at Ross, or get at blue light cost * It is not just red rice, kelaguan uhang, or popcorn with Tobacco sauce. * It doesn’t come with Coke and it doesn’t fit on a fiesta plate. * The revolution will not make you gof sinexy, cure your jafjaf, or make fragrant your fa’fa’ * The revolution will not force you to be where America’s empire begins * Or where Japan’s golf courses and Gerry Yingling’s credit card debt ends. * You won’t need a credit card, or be charged for the tin foil to cover your balutan * As the revolution will not be economized

The revolution will not be televised, blownback or militarized * There will be no more physical ordnance buried in people’s lands * And no more patrionizing propaganda buried in people’s minds * The revolution will not get you cheaper cases of chicken or increased commissary privileges. * It will not make freedomless flags feel more comfortable in your hands * Or make uniforms fit more snugly around your mind. * The revolution will not deny racism or exploitation * And not create histories about landfalls of destiny * But instead publicize the racism and evils of American hegemony. * The revolution will not be subsidized by construction contracts or the race of Senator Inouye or Congressman Burton * It will not be laid waste to by daisy cut budgets or Medicare spending limits * Instead it will be sustained by deep memories that refuse to die * The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised and will not polarize based on blood or color * It will not make your skin lighter * It will not make your skin darker * It will not test your blood the way Hitler or Uncle Sam would of done * It will not hate some and love others based on their time of naturalization * Or incept date of their compacts of free association. * But the revolution will help some find comfort, find strength, find power * In their connections to the land and to each other * Allow some to discover the sovereignty that can be found in solidarity * The revolution will take and remake this consciousness that doesn’t need to be televised * But does need to be revolutionized * The revolution will not be haolified * The revolution will not be haolified